House Democrats broke through weeks of gridlock Friday and began debating President Joe Biden’s economic package with the aim of passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill and at least advancing a social welfare spending bill.
The House began consideration of the two measures midafternoon after holding open a procedural vote for about seven hours to allow more time to round up the votes.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been negotiating behind closed doors with holdout centrists in her party who insist on first seeing a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the spending plan before casting their vote.
That CBO score won’t be fully completed for weeks, Democratic leaders said.
Nonetheless, Democrats appeared ready to plow ahead after abandoning earlier efforts over the past few weeks to advance part of the Biden package.
Instead of passing the social welfare spending bill, Democrats will vote on the rule that advances the bill and will consider the legislation at some point in the future, which will provide centrists with additional time to view a CBO analysis that won’t be ready until around Thanksgiving.
The House will vote to advance the social welfare spending package later this afternoon and, in a separate vote, will pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which has already won the approval of the Senate and will go directly to Biden’s desk for a long-awaited legislative victory.
“In order to make progress on the President’s vision it is important that we advance the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and the Build Back Better Act today,” Pelosi wrote to members on Friday.
Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado gaveled closed a GOP protest vote to adjourn the House, which began at about 8 a.m. to start debate on the long-stalled package.
The House then called up a rule to advance the $1.75 trillion social welfare spending package, which will fund an array of new government programs and subsidies, including free preschool, expanded healthcare subsidies, an extension of the child tax credit, money to care for the elderly and disabled, new green energy policies, and more. The bill includes a last-minute addition of four weeks of paid family leave.
The bill raises revenue by hiking taxes on the wealthy and through additional IRS enforcement.
Republicans immediately raised a point of order prohibiting legislation with unfunded mandates, calling on Democrats to hold off a vote until a CBO score comes first.
The bill was finalized late Thursday, with text that is more than 2,100 pages.
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“We should not proceed until we have a CBO score,” Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, said. “The American people ought to know what this bill costs before we have a vote.”
Rep. Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, charged Democrats with running the floor like a circus by holding open the last vote for half the day to provide Pelosi more time to twist the arms of her own party lawmakers on a bill that lacks an adequate nonpartisan cost analysis.
“The longest vote held in this body in modern history, just so some backroom agreement could be made,” Smith said.
Smith, raising his voice, told Democrats, “Don’t you dare try to sneak this bill through.”
Speaking after Smith, House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, accused Republicans of using stalling tactics to block a bill that would provide resources and investments needed by America.
He told Smith, “Take a chill pill.”
